Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight brawlers Jalin Turner and Ignacio Bahamondes will go to war this weekend (Sat., March 8, 2025) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada at UFC 313.

It’s always a little amusing when the promotion books two of the biggest men in the division opposite one another. Bahamondes has towered over all of his previous UFC opposition, but he’ll face a two inch height deficit here! These Lightweights have both likely seen 200 pounds at some point in the last six months, making a mockery of the entire theory behind weight classes.

Giant Lightweights aside, this is an intriguing striker’s delight match up. Turner has lost three of his last four despite hurting his opponent at some point in all of those bouts, whereas Bahamondes has won five of his last six in consistently highlight reel fashion. Turner has to halt the bleeding, whereas Bahamondes has a chance to jump up the ladder.

Let’s take a closer look at the betting odds and strategic keys for each athlete:

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Turner vs. Bahamondes Betting Odds

• Jalin Turner victory: -108
• Jalin Turner via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
• Jalin Turner via submission: TBD
• Jalin Turner via decision: TBD
• Ignacio Bahamondes victory: -112
• Ignacio Bahamondes via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
• Ignacio Bahamondes via submission: TBD
• Ignacio Bahamondes via decision: TBD
• Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

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How Turner Wins

“The Tarantula” is a serious problem on the feet. Not only is he rangy as hell, but Turner is seriously powerful with both his hands and feet. He fights well behind his straight punches, forcing opponents to try to walk him down (usually face-first into heavy connections).

Historically, Turner has struggled when forced to wrestle, an issue that’s unlikely to arise here, seeing as Bahamondes has yet to score a takedown in the Octagon. He’ll get the striking match he desires, and his advantage would appear to be boxing.

Twice now, Bahamondes has been touched up in the pocket by sharper boxers in Ludovit Klein and John Makdessi, both of whom managed to outland Bahamondes despite significant height and reach disadvantages. Seeing as Turner actually has the edge in those attributes, he should be working to establish the jab and build combinations from it. Longer exchanges will favor his tighter punching, and nobody just shrugs it off when Turner lands.

The other major focus should be countering kicks. Bahamondes is likely to try to overwhelm Turner with volume, but a few crisp counters down the middle can help calm all that down.

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How Bahamondes Wins

Bahamondes is an athletic striker with a background in amateur kickboxing. The Chilean prospect throws punches-in-bunches often punctuated by lovely kicks, and he’s proven to have both power and durability in spades.

The primary avenue to success here — besides simply clipping Turner with a big shot and putting him down, which could happen suddenly for either man — is volume. Bahamondes throws a lot of strikes and maintains that pace well into the second half of the fight. Turner, conversely, has been known to slow down, notably in his last two losses to Renato Moicano and Dan Hooker.

Bahamondes doesn’t have that issue. If a fight goes three full rounds, he tends to land over 100 significant strikes. He doesn’t have to be quite as reckless, but taking a page from the “Hangman” playbook and pressuring Turner with combos and body work seems like a good idea likely to pay off in the long run.

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Turner vs. Bahamondes Prediction

Despite the recent struggles, I’m still siding with Turner.

“The Tarantula” has only lost to elite, proven opposition throughout his recent struggles. He’s beaten a higher class of competition than Bahamondes has ever faced, regardless of outcome. In addition, I think Turner’s recent losses came down more to flaws in execution rather than skill set. With very minor adjustments, he could have scored the nod over Mateusz Gamrot or secured the knockout of Renato Moicano. At 29 years of age, Turner still has time to work out those kinks.

Bahamondes remains a good prospect, but Turner is simply better at this stage in their respective careers.

Prediction: Turner via decision

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